Olympic star Anthony Ogogo looks set to ask Norwich trainer Graham Everett to play a major role in his transition from the amateur to professional ranks.

The Lowestoft fighter has undertaken his first sparring session since before his glorious London 2012 campaign at Everett's Kickstop Gym, and then revealed that he wants to make it his local base.

Ogogo's bronze medal winning performance earned him a deal with Golden Boy Promotions – headed by the legendary Oscar De La Hoya – but the 24-year-old insists he wants to stay close to his roots.

'First and foremost I am from East Anglia,' he said. 'I love it here, I want to stay here, I want to be based here and I want to have massive fight nights here. It is where I live.

'If I do go off to America for training this is the place I will always go back to. I need a training base here I have known Graham since I was 14 – I used to come to the gym then. I just think it is nice to stay grounded and do what you know and what you are used to and when I am training here I hope Graham will be training me.

'The beauty of this arrangement with Golden Boy is that it has given me the opportunity to spread my wings and learn new styles and train with new coaches and pick up new things. I don't want to become what the Americans call a European fighter – traditional, straight up, stand up, block, jab, right hand.

'Like any person I want to be the best I can be, I want to add new strings to my bow all the time. If I can learn new styles from different boxers and different coaches and be in different camps that is only going to add to my development.

'I think Graham is a really under-rated coach so I hope to be doing a couple of days here as well as some stuff in Sheffield as well with the guys I was with as an amateur.'

Ogogo – who is set to make his pro debut on the Amir Khan undercard in Sheffield on April 27 – went through six tough rounds of sparring against unbeaten city boxer Nathan Dale as he stepped through the ropes for the first time since winning bronze last summer.

'That was his first spar, but I thought he sparred brilliantly, really well,' said Everett, who currently has the likes of heavyweight Sam Sexton, the unbeaten Walsh brothers and Nathan Dale under his wing.

'The situation is Anthony is going to do a bit of training in America and he certainly needs a home base. We have been working together for a couple of weeks - he has worked in this gym for years on and off, doing a bit of sparring and stuff - and now I am doing a bit of work with him and we are seeing if we are gelling and things can be sorted out. He is happy, he is enjoying himself and working well.

'I think Anthony is one of those boys who doesn't forget his roots, he still has great fondness for Lowestoft and does work there when he goes back, but this is familiar territory for him. We have all followed his career, we have all supported him and he has always come back here for sparring at some time or another.

'It is a great time for Anthony – he was a world class amateur and I am sure he can be a world class professional.'